Coming right on the heels of the president’s pronouncement declaring the importance of hastening the adoption of technological innovations in today’s digital and modern age, UnionBank, one of the largest universal banks in the Philippines, recently partnered with a Swiss crypto firm to launch cryptocurrency trading in the country.
In a speech delivered during the opening of UnionBank’s Innovation Campus, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said, “The track record of UnionBank in creating opportunities through innovation and digital solutions in the banking sector is uncontested. The initiatives that we have, such as (what) UnionBank is doing with this campus, that we’ve just inaugurated today, are precisely the kind of innovations, the kind of forward-thinking and actions that we will need, not only in the private sector but also in the public sector, so that we in government can be participants in the new digital world, wherein we are living in more and more in our day-to-day lives.”
In the same address, the president also highlighted the importance of adopting blockchain technology to master digital banking and digital transactions.
As if on cue, UnionBank launched a new investment and trading feature in collaboration with METACO, a Swiss technology company whose mission is to enable financial and non-financial institutions to securely manage their digital asset business and capitalize on the burgeoning digital asset economy. The effort is meant to allow for custody and trading services for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
“UnionBank’s collaboration with its strategic partner METACO has been critical in the bank’s pursuit of realizing its vision of delivering superior, customer-centric services to the Philippine market. We are proud to continue UnionBank’s series of industry firsts, this time being the first regulated bank in the country allowing digital currency exchange feature for clients,” said Henry Aguda, Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer at UnionBank, in a press statement.
METACO is a leading technology provider to financial institutions and corporations in the digital asset ecosystem with significant Tier 1 and Tier 2 bank implementations in various regulatory jurisdictions such as Switzerland, Germany, France, United Kingdom, United States, Turkey, Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong.
Seamus Donoghue, Chief Growth Officer at METACO, for his part, said, “As a key strategic partner, we are proud to see METACO Harmonize going live in six months since the project effectively commenced, and now supporting the launch of UnionBank’s digital asset pilot with select customers. Harmonize, our bank-grade digital asset orchestration platform will provide UnionBank with the optionality to securely explore a range of retail and institutional digital asset use cases, from crypto custody, investment, and trading, to the fast-growing Metaverse economy in the Philippines.”
To pilot the launch of the said crypto services for its clients, UnionBank has since gone live on METACO’s flagship platform, Harmonize, becoming the first universal bank in the country to do so. It is also deemed a major step forward in the bank’s exploration of blockchain technology that follows similar other digital asset initiatives, such as the introduction of its own stablecoin for remittance payments and the launch of its presence in the Metaverse economy.
Harmonize will act as the foundational orchestration platform to support UnionBank as it readies itself for a wider rollout of its digital asset services and serving the needs of its customers while future-proofing its business model.
Working closely with the financial regulators and other industry participants, the bank aims to expand the service and create a safe and compliant environment for millions of Filipinos to custody and exchange digital currencies such as Bitcoin, straight from their existing mobile banking app, without the need to open or manage separate wallet services.
Previously, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has warned the Filipino public against using non-local crypto trading platforms, saying that dealing with foreign virtual asset service providers (VASP) can pose challenges in enforcing consumer protection. As of August this year, there were a total of 19 registered VASPs in the Philippines.
UnionBank is one of a select cohort of institutions granted a crypto license under the supervision of the BSP. It initially partnered with METACO for the development of crypto trading services in January this year. The bank has been actively exploring the crypto industry in recent years.
In 2019, UnionBank launched a payments-focused stablecoin pegged to the Philippine peso.